


nothing encourages bonding like the xhorhasian flu

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: me sobbing about critical role [93]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Chicken Soup, Comfort, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Sickfic, very very brief, yeza gets the flu that's all this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 03:43:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19243147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: yeza gets the flu, soup, and comfort. in that order.





	nothing encourages bonding like the xhorhasian flu

**Author's Note:**

> twinvax asked:  
> Yeza gets the flu because his body isnt used to anything around Xhorhas, and someone has to take care of him until he's better. The flu or maybe just a bad cold, I dunno. Hes not a person used to travel.

It starts with a sniffle, as most sicknesses do. At the time, he’s playing with Nugget- who he’d grown to love, despite his intimidating size and energy, because he really is just a _sweetheart_ \- and so he figures it’s just the pet dander and thinks nothing of it.

 

And then the sniffle becomes a cough. Becomes a shiver that won’t go away. And then he’s laid up in bed, and 99% sure he’s got the flu, except not? Some of the symptoms are weird, or not there at all, and he’s got a craving for one of those weird pastries Veth’s friend- Jester! That’s her name!- had ordered when they first arrived at the inn.

 

He’s hoping if he just goes to sleep a little early, it will go away. He goes to sleep a little early. It does not go away.

 

“Yeza? Honey? Are you feeling alright?” Veth asks, peeking her head into the room.

 

Yeza looks towards the window, hoping to gauge the time, before remembering there’s no sun here. Well. He must’ve been asleep longer than he’d thought.

 

“Yeza?”

 

Oh, right. He needs to answer.

 

“I’m fine, dear,” is what he means to say, but somewhere along “fine” his voice gives out and he starts hacking like a cat with a fur ball.

 

“Yeza!”

 

Veth runs fully into the room, face filled with worry, and he smiles at her. He clears his throat, and speaks, “Oh, it’s- _hack_ \- just a bit of the flu, you know. I’m sure some soup’s- _hack_ \- just what I need.”

 

Veth wrings her hands, looking distressed,“Oh- oh, you know I’d stay here and take care of you, but I promised to take Jester out dress shopping this afternoon, and she’s been so homesick, missing her Mom, maybe I could reschedule it for tomorrow? Oh, no, no, we’re getting ready for that job, for Doctor Wacko or whoever, oh-,”

 

Yeza cuts her off with a pat on her hand. “You don’t have to ditch your friends for me, I’ll be just fine here.”

 

He tries not to think about the fact that he’d be alone. In this inn. In Xhorhas. _Alone_.

Apparently he doesn’t hide his apprehension well enough, because Veth doesn’t look reassured.

 

“Well. Well. Maybe I could- oh, _oh_ , I know- what if Caleb was up here with you? He has Frumpkin, and you know, I’ve always thought you two would get along real well, he’s so smart, just like you, but more with magic stuff rather than chemicals. Would that be alright? Me and Jester would only be gone for a few hours-”

 

“That sounds just fine honey. Don’t worry about being gone for awhile, really, I’m not _totally_ incapable,” he says, smiling.

 

Veth smiles back, if still with that hesitation she’s had ever since they reunited in the cell. It’s a matter of minutes for Veth to run downstairs and then return with Caleb.

 

The wizard looks alarmed and out of his depth when his eyes settle on Yeza, and the halfling man can’t help a laugh that rapidly turns into a cough. You’d think he was a dragon, with that expression!

 

“You wouldn’t happen to have any soup, would you?” Yeza asks once he can talk again, and Caleb startles.

 

“Ah, _Ja_ , yes, here-,” he says, and hands Yeza a bowl. It- tastes surprisingly normal, actually. Yeza wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, and while it sure isn’t his mother’s recipe, it is chicken noodle soup.

 

As he eats, Caleb moves stiffly over to the hard-backed wooden chair, and snaps his fingers, and suddenly there’s a cat standing on the bed, just a foot away from Yeza.

 

“Oh!” he shouts, surprised, and nearly spills the soup.

 

“Oh, well, hello there, what’s your name...?” It doesn’t take long for the surprise to leave, and the cat, who Yeza realizes must be Frumpkin, pads over to him, and allows himself to be pet.

 

“Do you, er, need anything else?” he hears from Caleb’s side of the room, and Yeza shakes his head.

 

“No, no, I’m fine, thank you. I think I might pass out again soon, though.”

Caleb pulls out a book from his coat, and Yeza falls asleep to the quiet sound of pages turning and the heavy weight of Frumpkin in his lap. It’s- nice, really, just to have the company.

  


Nott tiptoes up the stairs and peeks into her and Yeza’s room. She and Jester had gotten a _little_ carried away, and they’d come back a few hours later than she’d promised. But all she sees when she focuses on the bed is Yeza’s sleeping form and- Frumpkin?

 

Frumpkin is curled on his lap, and she can hear his purring. She looks around the room and sees Caleb, slumped over a book in the single wooden chair in the room. She can’t help the smile that spreads across her face at the sight of her boys, sleeping. They both look so peaceful that she quietly closes the door, and heads back downstairs. No reason to wake either of them up quite yet.

 

**Author's Note:**

> oh god i have so many other things i should be writing right now but take this


End file.
